Automatic cutting and collating machine and method



Dec. 21, 1965 G. F. HAWLEY ET AL 3,224,306

AUTOMATIC CUTTING AND COLLATING MACHINE AND METHOD 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 9, 1962 W L. Jr .T ws M @Q Wi y INVENTORS F/VEYS Dec. 21, 1965 G. F. HAWLEY ET AL 3,224,306

AUTOMATIC CUTTING AND COLLATING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Oct. 9, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 21, 1965 a. F. HAWLEY ETAL 3,224,306

AUTOMATIC CUTTING AND COLLATING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Oct. 9, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. 5 g

INVENTORS ATTOFIVEKS Dec. 21, 1965 G. F. HAWLEY ETAL AUTOMATIC comma AND COLLATING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed Oct. 9. I962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 .7234 f. Mal/40E)? ATTORNEYS United States Patent M 3,224,306 AUTOMATIC CUTTING AND COLLATING MACHINE AND METHOD George F. Hawley, Bogota, N.J., and Jean E. Moulder,

The present invention relates to an automatic cutting and collating machine and method and more particularly, to an automatic high-speed machine and method for cutting large sheets of material longitudinally into strips and cutting the strips transversely in-to card-like articles, wafers, and the like and then rapidly collating these articles into alignment to form neat packs. This invention relates to fast, automatic collating and stacking apparatus and a method for rapidly orienting and collating a plurality of cards, wafers and similar articles.

In the manufacture of playing cards for various types of games and similar printed cards, and card-like articles, it is customary to print many of these articles upon a large sheet in predetermined arrangements of individual patterns. Then these sheets are cut in both directions along the respective spaces between the patterns so as to form the individual articles. For packaging these articles are finally collated and stacked together into packs. Moreover, in the manufacture of many different types of articles which are generally fiat and have two dimensions substantially larger than their third dimension such as wafers and card-like articles it is desirable to collate the individual articles and stack them together into a pack for suitable packinging such as wrapping, boxing and the like.

Among the many advantages of the automatic cutting and collating machine and method described herein as illustrative of the presentinvention are those resulting from the fact that cards, wafers, and similar card-like articles are rapidly and accurately collated and packed together so as to provide a dependable high production rate. This machine described herein is capable of being quickly adjusted for handling a large variety of diiferent types and sizes of such articles.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it enables a large sheet of printed and separately designed articles to be cut into theindividual articles by first passing the sheet in one direction through a set of cutters to cut the sheet longitudinally into strips, and then moving the strips in a direction perpendicular to their original direction through a second set of cutters to out each strip transversely into the individual articles. When the direction of movement is changed after the first cutting step, the strips are individually controlled while moving at high speed to prevent their being pushed against one another. The leading edge of each strip is prevented from overlapping or engaging the trailing edge of the strip in front. The strips are maintained in alignment relative to the second set of cutters when the direction of movement is changed and accurately cut articles are produced which are collated and stacked together for packaging.

The machine which is described herein as illustrative of the present invention is a fully automatic high-speed machine which can collate into one pack a number of articles from each of several continuous flows of flat a r-ticles originally lying in the same plane.

The various aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an automatic cutting and collating machine which is illustrative of the present invention and wherein certain portions of the machine are shown schematically;

3,224,306 Patented Dec. 21, 1965 FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the machine of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective diagram illustrating the interrelationship of the drive elements and interaction of the various components of the machine;

FIGURE 4 is an elevational and partial sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 1 and shown on a scale of one-half actual size;

FIGURE 5 is an elevational and partial sectional view taken along the line 55 in FIGURE 1 and shown in a scale of one-quarter actual size;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of belt-twisting apparatus for progressively turning the articles out of one plane into a second plane perpendicular thereto while progressively moving the articles along. This FIGURE 6 is shown on a scale one-half actual size;

FIGURE 7 is an elevational view of the belt-twisting apparatus of FIGURE 6 and shown on the same scale as FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a plan view of a temporary accumulator spring-retainer apparatus which receive the articles as they are delivered from the belt-twisting apparatus of FIG- URES 6 and 7;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view of the twisted belt and associated guide means, being taken along the line 9-9 of FIGURE 6 and shown on enlarged scale;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective illustration of the twisted guide means which is associated with the twisted belt; and

FIGURE 11 is a perspective illustration of the adjustable channel guides extending from the output end of the temporary accumulator apparatus of FIGURE 8.

General description and operation A large sheet of material 1, for example, such as stiff paper, plastic, cardboard or other thin, wide material adapted to be cut into Wafers and card-like articles has a predetermined arrangement of individual patterns and designs 2 thereon. These designs are arranged in respective rows and columns on the sheet material 1 and 'may be in the form of patterns, symbols, printed messages, impressions, pictures, numbers or the like. They are adapted to be cut apart in two directions as indicated by the dashed lines 3 and 4 passing along the spaces between the individual designs 2 so as to form individual card-like articles 5, which are then to be collated into a heat pack. The sheet material 1 is moved by means of a conveyor 6 through a first cutting stage including a first set of cutters 7 and 8 which cut the sheet in a first direction, for example, longitudinally along the lines 3 into several strips 9 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The strips so out are then passed into a staired tier assembly 10 (FIG-URES 4 and 5) and are momentarily arrested therein. The surfaces of the tiers in the assembly 10 are oriented to form parallel planes at consecutively different elevations, in a step-like arrangement. The staired tier assembly 10 is omitted from FIG- URES 1 and 2 in order to show the step-like positioning of the respective strips 9 more clearly.

A conveyor 11 whose direction of movement is perpendicular to the length of the strips passes under the stepped tier assembly 10. At least two lines of pin cogs 12 (see also FIG. 3) spaced along the conveyor parallel to its direction of movement protrude from the surface of the conveyor. The pin cogs in each line are of consecutively greater height, and are spaced farther apart than the widths of the cut strips 9. These pin cogs are arranged to pass through channels 86 (FIG. 4) in the tier assembly. As the conveyor moves, cogs from each line sequentially engage each strip 9 of the freshly cut material as shown in FIGURE 2 on the respective tier which is at an elevation corresponding to the height of the cogs, thus feeding the strips in spaced relationship edgewise toward a second cutting stage including a set of cutters 15 and 16.

The cooperative action of the staired tier arrangement and cogged conveyor 11 and associated elements as described in detail further below provides two advantages in operation. First, the strips 9 become moved apart so as to prevent them from overlapping or jamming. Second, each strip is individually pushed by two cogs and controlled in position, thereby assuring proper alignment of the strip for the second cutting step. The strips are each cut transversely along the lines 4 into individual articles by the second cutting operation.

The next step in preparation for collating the articles is to turn each one from a horizontal to a vertical position so that the planes of the flat surfaces of the articles are parallel. Belt-twister apparatus 18 (FIGURES 6-10) rapidly turns each article in sequence into the vertical plane after it leaves the second pair of cutters and 16. This belt-twister apparatus 18 includes numerous endless belts 20 extending over sets of pulley rollers including a pair 21 and 22 whose axes are arranged at right angles to one another, the axis of the pulleys closest to the second cutting stage being in a horizontal plane. A guide 24 having a surface closely adjacent to and corresponding with the surface described by each twisted belt is positioned with respect to the belt in such a way that the articles 55 which are being carried and turned by the belt slidingly engage the guide, which prevents the articles from falling or becoming misaligned. After turning the articles up on edge, the belt-twister apparatus moves them toward a channeled collating table 26 (FIG. 1) which has numerous converging vertical channels 28 to receive each column of the advancing articles. The articles from corresponding positions in the respective strips 9 are temporarily accumulated in the various accumulators 29 (FIG- URE 8).

The articles 5 momentarily remain in the accumulators 29 near the input ends of the collating channels 28. The articles in each channel are then simultaneously moved toward the other end of the collating table, i.e., downstream, by a horizontal push bar 30 which extends transversely above the channels. The bar is suspended at each end by endless chains 31 and 32 on opposite sides of the table. These chains pass over sprockets to form a loop and are driven, and move the push bar from one end of the collating table toward the other. As each bar moves downstream it is close enough to the tops of the channels to engage the articles resting at the ends of the channels and thus to push them simultaneously downstream. The channels are arranged in a curved converging fashion so that the outermost channels consecutively converge with the next outermost channels until all of the channels have finally converged into one central channel 34. As the articles in each channel are pushed downstream, they converge and are collated into a stack in this central channel 34. Thus, all the articles cut from one sheet of material 1 are collated into one stack.

A switching shuttle mechanism 36 switches the stacks of articles into various delivery channels 37, 38, and 39 which direct the various stacks into separate packaging machines, not shown. By separating the various stacks into the separate channels 37, 38, and 39 a higher speed of operation and greater flexibility in packaging procedures are made available.

Detailed description and operation As shown in FIGURE 1, the first cutting stage includes pairs of cutting discs 41 arranged in offset shearing relationship 0n the rotating shafts 7 and 8 which are suitably geared together so that they rotate in opposite directions. The conveyor 6 for feeding the sheet 1 may have any suitable form, for example, it is shown as including a plurality of narrow parallel belts 6 (FIGURE 1) passing around pulley shafts 43 and 44.

In order to position each of the strips 9 at a different elevation while simultaneously feeding them into the staired tier assembly 10, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5,

a deflection feed approach mechanism 45 is positioned between the first cutting stage 7, 8 and the in-feed side of the tier assembly. This in-feed approach mechanism 45 includes a plurality of belt deflectors 46, 47, 48, and 49 (FIGS. 3 and 5) which are identical except that they are canted at progressively steeper angles for guiding the respective strips 9 edgewise into the various levels A, B, C, and D of the tier assembly 10.

At the in-feed side 55 (FIG. 4) of the tier assembly 10 the entrances to the respective levels A, B, C, and D in the assembly are flared out, i.e., have a funnel mouth so as to guide the leading ends of the respective strips smoothly from the ramps 63 into the spaces A, B, C, and D at the various desired levels.

Each of these belt deflectors includes a fast-moving belt 50 (FIG, 4) passing in a triangular path around two idler pulleys 51 and 52 and a drive pulley 53 which is slidably splined on a shaft 54. The two idler pulleys 51 and 52 are mounted on a carriage 56 which is swingably mounted on this shaft 54. As seen in FIGURE 5, each carriage 56 includes a pair of side plates straddling the belt 50 and its pulleys 51, 52, and 53.

A compression spring 58 presses down against a spring seat 59 pivotably connected by a link 60 to the discharge end of the carriage 56. This downward force causes the carriage 56 to be inclined down to a position such that a pair of idler wheels 62 on each side of the carriage are in contact with a ramp 63, each of which is aligned with the desired level of the tier assembly 10. These wheels 62 space the belt 50 slightly away from rubbing against the ramp, and they accommodate the passage of a cut strip '9 beneath the carriage when it is engaged by the belt 50 and is being fed into the tier assembly 10. The upper end of the spring 58 .is held in a seat 64 which is retained by a head 65 in position on a slotted mounting bracket 66 secured to main frame members 67. The shaft 54 is journaled in bearings 68 on the frame members 67.

For handling different sizes of sheet material 1 and different arrangements and types of designs 5, it is desirable from time to time in the production schedule to change the spacing of the cut lines 3, thus changing the widths of the strips 9. This is readily accomplished by repositioning the cutting discs 41 on their shafts 7 and 8 and by adjusting the carriages 56 along the drive shaft 54. The upper spring seats 64 are manually slid along the slotted bracket 66 to the desired position. The ramps 63 are adjust-ably mounted on their supports 69 and 70 on the frame 71.

As shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 the staired tier assembly 10 includes a base plate 72, a plurality of divider plates 73, 74, and 75, and a top plate 76. The front edges of the divider plates 73, 74, 75 and 76 are tapered downwardly, and at their back ends these plates are spaced apart and held in cantilevered relationship by respective spacer plates 77, 78, 79 and 80. All of these plates are fastened together by machine screws as shown at 81 to form a rigid assembly 10. The divider plates 73, 74, 75 and the top plate 76 are progressively narrower in the direction of the pin conveyor 11 and also the separator plates 77, 73, and 79 and are progressively narrower so that the respective tier spaces A, B, C, and D are positioned for a step-like relationship for receiving the strips 9 at different elevations.

The tier assembly 10 is secured adjustably in position by a slotted bracket 82 attached by a thumb screw 83 to a support 84.

The respective pins 12 of the conveyor 11 are spaced farther apart than the width of the widest strips 9 to be handled by the machine. This staired tier assembly 10 can be adjusted in position by the adjustment means 82, 83, and 84, and the sizes of the various plates can be changed readily by loosening the fastening means 81 to accommodate a large variety of sizes and types of strips 9 as may be desired at different periods in a production schedule.

There are a plurality of clearance spaces 86 extending completely through the assembly so that the pin cogs 12 can pass freely therethrough. Thus, each of the plates 73-80 actually comprises a series of pieces separated by the respective channels 86. Although only two conveyor chains or belts 11 are shown and only two clearance slots 86, it will be appreciated that additional slots and pin belts 11 can be included for accommodating longer or shorter strips. As the strips enter the assembly 10 they bump against an end stop 88 (FIGURE 4). If there is any tendency for the fast-moving strips to rebound from the stop 88, then motion damping means 90 is included, for example, a narrow soft-br'istled 'brush having the bristles canted in the direction of movement of the entering strips and also canted slightly toward the back end of the assembly is found to work to advantage as this snubbing damper.

As the pins 12 advance toward the right in FIGURES 1 and 2, they space the strips 9 apart and advance them edgewise toward the second cutting stage. A pair of holddown straps forming top guides 91 and 92 extend down the sloping front surface of the assembly 10 and along the base 72 toward the second cutting stage 15, 16. There is a distance between the arrested position of the first strip 9 and the second cutting stage which is at least several times the width of the strip for purposes of final end registration immediately prior to transverse cutting. This distance is greater than schematically illustrated in FIGURE 1 to provide for a gradually converging end guide 95. This engages the end of each strip, which is moving at high speed, and gradually cams each strip longitudinally into proper alignment for transverse cutting as each strip moves toward the second cutting stage. This cutting stage includes pairs of cutting discs on the counter-rotating shafts and 16. Preceding the second cutting stage is an upper and a lower transfer conveyor 93 and 94 comprising a plurality of pairs of small belts between which the strips 9 aredriven into the cutters 15 and 16.

As the card-like articles 5 cut from the strips are discharged from the cutters 15 and 16 they are guided by guide means 24 shown as twisted channeled guides adjacent to the twisted belts 20. These belts are timingbelts and are driven by geared pulleys 96 to prevent slippage. The pulleys 96 are splined to a drive shaft 97, and the belt is led around this pulley 96 by a canted guide pulley 98.

Each twisted-belt card-turning unit 99 includes a chassis 100 on which the pulleys 21, 22, 96 and 98 are mounted. This chassis rests on a pair of parallel slide bars 101 and 102 and is held by retainers 103 and 104. The input end of each chassis 100 has a groove 105 straddling the shear ridge 106 of the lower cutting wheel 41 of each cutting pair, thus holding the belt-twister unit 99 in alignment with its associated pair of cutting wheels sothat they are readily adjustable for cutting various sizes of articles. The chassis 100 is clamped in its desired laterally adjusted position by cam clamp mechanism 106 (FIG. 7).

Although the units 99 are shown as turning the planes of the cards through an angle of 90, i.e., from horizontal to vertical, it is to be understood that for certain types of articles and for certain applications a different angular change may be utilized.

As shown in FIGURE 9 the channeled guide 24 has a broad U-shape and its opposite edges form guide elements 107 and 108 straddling the twisted belt 20. FIG- URE 9 illustrates the advantageous gripping action on the article 5 provided by this mechanism.

The temporary accumulators 29 each comprise a deep channel member 108 including spring means for temporarily arresting the articles so that they stack together on edge until all of the articles from the strips of one sheet are accumulated. In this example, there are four strips and so four articles 5 are stacked on edge in the accumulators, two articles being illustrated in FIGURE 8. A fine wire spring 109 and a leaf spring 110 produce this temporary stacking action. The accumulator channel member 108 narrows down toward its output end and is followed by a laterally adjustable switching bridge 112. This bridge 112 is provided by a channel member which is hinged to the output end of the accumulator, for example by a leaf spring 113. The other end of the switching bridge 112 is laterally adjustable along a rest 1'14 and held in position by movable fastening means 115 (FIG. 11).

Consequently, a great flexibility in set-up of the machine for handling various sizes and shapes of articles is provided. The switching bridges 112 are directed into the desired channel 28 in the collating table 26. Different arrangements of channels 28 and bridges 112 can be used as desired.

The push bars 30 slidingly push the respective initial stacked groups 11 of four articles along the channels 28 until they converge together into a final stack in the main central channel 34. j

The switching mechanism 36 (FIG. 1) includes a movable channel 117 pivoted at 118 and biased by a spring 120. A switching shuttle cam 122 produces a motion such that the channel 117 is successively aligned with the delivery channels in a sequence so as to deliver two packs in succession into the first delivery channel 37, then one pack into the second channel 38, then two packs into the third channel 39, another into channel 38, two more into channel 37, and so forth. That is, the delivery sequence is 1st, 1st 2nd, 3rd 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, etc. This switching sequence minimizes the amount of travel of the pivoted channel 117 for an equal aggregate distribution of packs among the three delivery channels.

As shown in FIGURE 3, a main drive motor 124 1 serves to operate all of the various components of this machine. This main drive motor 124 is connected by a sprocket chain 126 with the main feeder take-off shaft 128. The direction of rotation of the various shafts and sprockets is indicated and thus will not be discussed in detail. A timing belt 130 connects this main shaft 128 with the drive shaft 54 for the in-feed belt deflector units 4649, and a drive connection 132 serves to operate the sheet feeder 6 and to drive the cutter shafts 7 and 8 in suitably timed relationship with the other components. Through a coupling 134 the main shaft 128 is connected to a continuous 136 and to a gear box 138 having a transverse shaft 140 which is connected by a sprocket chain 142 with the cutter shaft 16. The cutter shafts 15 and 16 are geared together at 143 to produce counterrotation.

In order to drive the pin conveyor chains 11, the cutter shaft 16 is connected by a chain 144 with a conveyor shaft 146 having a plurality of large sprocket wheels 147 thereon. The conveyor chains 11 are supported at their opposite ends by corresponding large sprocket wheels 148 on a shaft 149. Although only two chains 11 are illustrated, it is to be understood that the machine as shown actually included four parallel pin conveyor chains 11 so as to accommodate strips 9 of many different lengths.

For operating the upper and lower transfer conveyors 93 and 94, a second sprocket chain 150 is connected from the transverse drive shaft 140 to a lower transfer shaft 152, and a set of spur gears 154 produce the desired counter-revolution of the respective pairs of small opposed endless belts 156 in the two transfer conveyors 93 and 94.

The extension 136 of the main take-off shaft 128 is connected to a second gear box 158 having a second transverse drive shaft 160 which is coupled by a sprocket chain 162 to the belt-twister drive shaft 97.

In order to move the push-rod conveyor chains 31 and 32, the transverse shaft 160 is connected by a sprocket chain 164 with a stub shaft 168 and through reversing gears 170 to a shaft 172. The chains. 31 and 32 pass down around idler sprockets 173 and 174 so that the push rods 30 are caused to travel past the accumulators 29, thus engaging and moving all of the initial packs of four articles each of which have been temporarily accumulated therein. A pair of large sprocket wheels 175 and 176 on the collator output shaft 177 support the chains 31 and 32 at the downstream end of the collator table 26.

For operating the shuttle cam 122, the take-off shaft extension 136 is connected through a third gear box 178 with a third transverse drive shaft 180 which is connected by gearing 182 with the cam 122.

It is to be noted that the individual cards which are cut from each sheet 1 always are positioned in the same relative location in the final pack in the main channel 34 and all are face-up in the stack. For example, the card 5-1 at the upper left of each sheet 1 is always the fourth card into the temporary accumulator which is on the left with respect to the direction of movement, that is, which is nearest to the reference number 29 in FIG- URE 1. Thus, it will be uppermost in this initial grouping, i.e., it is nearest to the springs 109, 110 (FIGURES 6 and 8) and it becomes uppermost( i.e., on the left with respect to flow) in the final stack in the main channel 34. The card 5-2 always ends up next to uppermost in the final stack, and the card 528 at the lower right in the sheet 1 ends up on the bottom of the stack. Consequently, upon comparison, all of the stacks are found to be correspondingly arranged.

From the foregoing it will be understood that automatic cutting and collating machines and methods utilizing the present invention are well suited to provide the advantages set forth, and since many possible embodiments can be made of the various features of this invention and as the method and apparatus herein described may be varied in various parts, all without departing from the scope of the invention, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense and that in certain instances some of the features of the invention may be used without a corresponding use of other features, all without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims:

What is claimed is:

1. A method for cutting and stacking cards of relatively uniform size each cut from a relatively large substantially fiat sheet of material which comprises moving said large sheet edgewise in a first direction and cutting said moving sheet parallel to said direction to form a plurality of strips of similar length and width, moving said strips individually edgewise perpendicular to their length and cutting said moving strips transversely into a plurality of cards all in a first plane, moving said cards edgewise while progressively turning them into spaced parallel planes perpendicular to said first plane, and moving the cards simultaneously edgewise while progressively converging the cards into a stack.

2. A method of collating into one stack a plurality of wafers and similar articles of relatively uniform size having two dimensions substantially greater than their third dimensions which comprises orienting said articles in spaced relationship so that the planes of their largest surfaces described by their two longest dimensions are parallel and said articles are spaced apart, simultaneously moving all of said articles edgewise in a direction generally in the plane of their largest surfaces and all at the same forward speed, converging the outermost articles with the next-outermost articles to form initial stacks containing less than all of the articles in said plurality, while continuing to move all of said articles at the same forward speed, then converging said initial stacks with the successive next outermost articles to form larger stacks containing less than all of the articles in said plurality, while continuing to move all of said articles at the same forward speed, and continuing said successive collation to form a final collated stack containing all of the articles of said plurality as they continue to move.

3. A method of cutting and stacking cards of the same size cut from a large substantially fiat sheet of material which comprises moving said large sheet edgewise in a first direciton and cutting said moving sheet as it moves in said direction along spaced parallel lines to form a plurality of strips of similar length and width, moving said strips individually edgewise perpendicular to their length and cutting said moving strips transversely into a plurality of cards all lying in a first plane, moving said cards individually edgewise while turning each of them along helical paths into spaced parallel planes perpendicular to said first plane, and moving the cards simultaneously edgewise at the same forward speed while converging the cards into a stack.

4. A method of cutting and stacking cards of the same size cut form a large substantially flat sheet of material which comprises moving said large sheet edgewise horizontally in a first direction and cutting said sheet as it moves in said direction along spaced parallel lines to form a plurality of strips of similar length and width moving edgewise in said first direction, selectively directing said moving strips to different elevations so that each strip is at a slightly higher elevation than the adjacent one, stopping said strips at said elevations, pushing said strips individually edgewise in sequence perpendicular to said first direction starting with the strip at the lowest level, directing said strips into a common horizontal plane as they are pushed horizontally, cutting said moving strips transversely into a plurality of cards all lying in a horizontal plane, moving said card individually edgewise while turning each of them along helical paths into spaced parallel vertical planes, and moving the cards simultaneously edgewise at the same forward speed while converging the cards into a stack.

5. A method of collating into one stack a multiplicity of wafers and similar card-like articles of relatively uniform size having two dimensions substantially greater than their third dimensions which comprises orienting said articles on edge in spaced relationship in a row so that the planes of their largest surfaces described by their two longest dimensions are vertical and parallel with said articles being spaced apart, simultaneously moving all of said articles edgewise resting on edge and moving in a direction generally in the plane of their largest surfaces and all at the same forward speed, causing some of said articles to converge together into a stack containing less than all of the articles of said multiplicity and causing the remaining articles to converge progressively together with said stack forming a final collated stack containing all of the articles of said multiplicity as they continue to move.

6. A method of collating into one stack a plurality of wafers and similar card-like articles and the like of relatively uniform size having two dimensions substantially greater than their third dimensions so as to provide faces on opposite sides of the articles comprising the steps of arranging said articles initially in a row horizontally and resting on their faces, moving said articles horizontally edgewise and all advancing along parallel paths, extending perpendicular to the length of said row, turning each article helically as they advance along said parallel paths until they are all standing on edge with their faces being parallel but spaced apart, simultaneously moving said articles edgewise in a direction generally in the plane of their faces and all moving forwardly at the same speed, and causing the articles to converge face-to-face as they move thereby forming a Stack.

7. Apparatus for receiving longitudinally strips of substantially fiat material having two dimensions substantially longer than their third dimensions and for feeding said strips edgewise which comprises a plurality of support plate having fiat surfaces for supporting said strips of material to be received, said support plates being an ranged at consecutively greater elevation in a staired tier assembly, said assembly having a plurality of parallel chanels transversely through it, means for sumultaneously feeding said strips of material longitudinally onto each support plate, a conveyor mechanism passing beneath said assembly, the direction of movement of the upper surface of said conveyor being parallel with the surfaces of said support plates and transverse to the length of said strips and moving from the highest toward the lowest strip, the surface of said conveyor having a plurality of cogs protruding therefrom, said cogs being arranged in at least two rows parallel to said direction of movement, said rows of cogs corresponding to and passing through said channels said cogs in each line being of consecutively greater height in order corresponding to the elevations of said plates, each cog being of such height that it extends slightly above the surface of the plate to which it corresponds, said cogs in each said row being spaced at a distance greater than the width of said strips for pushing said strips in succession to feed them away from said assembly.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 and wherein the exposed edges of said support plates are sloped downwardly in the direction of said staired tier assembly, and guide means near said sloping surfaces for guiding the strips into a common plane as they are pushed away from said assembly.

9. Apparatus for receiving and feeding strips of substantially fiat material having two dimensions substantially longer than their third dimensions which comprises a plurality of tiers having flat surfaces about as wide as said strips of material to be received and fed, said tiers being arranged in steps at consecutively greater heights, said tiers having channels extending transversely through them, and means for supporting said tiers; means for simultaneously feeding said strips of material onto each tier; a conveyor mechanism passing beneath said tiers, the direction of movement of the surface of said conveyor being perpendicular to the length of said tiers and from the highest toward the lowest tier, the surface of said conveyor having a plurality of pins protruding therefrom, said pins being arranged in at leasttwo rows parallel to said direction of movement, said rows of pins corresponding to and passing through said channels in said tiers, said pins in each line being of consecutively greater length in order corresponding to said tiers and extending slightly beyond the surface of the tier to which it corresponds, said pins in each said row being spaced at a distance greater than the width of said tiers for successively engaging the edges of said strips and pushing them edgewise away from said tiers 10. A method of cutting and stacking cards oftthe same size cut from a large substantially flat sheet of material which comprises moving said large sheet edgewise in a horizontal plane in a first direction and cutting said sheet as it moves in said direction along spaced parallel lines to form a plurality of strips of similar length and width moving longitudinally in said first direction, selectively directing said moving strips to different levels so that each strip is at a slightly higher elevation than the adjacent one, stopping said strips at said levels, pushing said strips individually edgewise in sequence perpendicular to said first direction commencing with the strip at the lowest level, directing said strips into a common horizontal plane as they are pushed horizontally, cutting said moving strips transversely into a plurality of cards all lying in a horizontal plane, moving said cards individually edgewise while turning each of them along helical paths into spaced parallel vertical planes, temporarily accumulating the cards corresponding with respective transverse cuts through a plurality of strips from one sheet to form a plurality of initial small groups of cards standing on edge, and moving the initial groups of cards simultaneously edgewise at the same forward speed while converging the initial groups of cards into a stack.

11. A method of collating into one stack a plurality of wafers and similar card-like articles of relatively uniform size having two dimensions substantially greater than their third dimensions which comprises orienting said articles on edge in initial groups each containing a plurality of articles in face-to-face relationship, said groups being in spaced relationship in a row so that the planes of their largest surfaces described by their two longest dimensions are vertical and parallel, simultaneously moving all of said groups of articles edgewise resting on edge and moving in a direction generally in the plane of their largest surfaces and all at the same forward speed causing some of said groups to converge together into a stack containing less than all of the articles of said plurality, and causing the remaining groups of articles to converge progressively together with said stack forming a completed collated stack containing all of said articles as they continue to move.

12. Apparatus for collating a plurality of wafers and similar articles having two dimensions which are larger than their third dimensions thereby defining opposite faces on each article comprising a support frame defining a plurality of initial channels extending along said frame, a pair of said initial channels converging in a first direction along said frame to form a wider channel, successive ones of said initial channels converging in said first direction at spaced points along said wider channel to form a progressively wider channel until all of said initial channels have converged into a single wide channel, delivery means for feeding the articles into said initial channels resting on edge therein, a push element extending across said frame above said initial channels and closely adjacent thereto, and drive means for moving said push element in said first direction for converging said articles together into face-to-face relationship in said single wide channel.

13. Apparatus for collating a plurality of wafers and similar articles having two dimensions which are larger than their thickness thereby defining opposite faces on each article comprising a supporting frame defining a plurality of channels extending along said frame and converging in a sequence in a first direction, the outermost channels converging inwardly with the next adjacent chan nel and forming a resulting channel of width increased approximately by the thickness of an article, said resulting channels converging inwardly to the next adjacent channels and forming subsequent channels of width further increased approximately by the thickness of an article, and

so forth, into a final main channel of a width to accommodate all of said articles on edge therein in face-to-face relationship, delivery means for feeding the articles into said channels resting on edge therein, a push element extending across said frame above said channels and closely adjacent thereto, and drive means for moving said push element in said first direction for converging said articles together into face-to-face relationship.

14. Apparatus for collating a plurality of wafers and similar articles having two dimensions which are larger than their thickness thereby defining opposite faces on each article comprising a support frame defining a plurality of channels extending along said frame and converging in a first direction into a main channel delivery means for feeding the articles into said channels resting on edge therein, a push element extending across said frame above said channels and closely adjacent thereto, drive means for moving said push element in said first direction for conveying said articles together into face-toface relationship forming a stack on edge in said main channel, a plurality of output channels diverging from a position near the end of said main channel, and switching means for directing the stack into a desired one of said output channels.

15. Apparatus for collating a plurality of wafers and similar atricles having two dimensions which are larger than their thickness thereby defining opposite faces on each article comprising a support frame defining a plurality of channels extending along said frame and converging in a sequence in a first direction, means for delivering small groups of said articles into said channels, the articles in each group standing on edge and being in face-to-face relationship, the outermost channels converging inwardly with the next adjacent channel and forming a resulting channel of width increased approximately by the thickness of a group of articles, said resulting channels converging inwardly to the next adjacent channels and forming subsequent channels of articles, and so forth, into a final main channel of a Width to accrnmodate all of said articles on edge therein in face-to-face relationship, a push element extending across said frame above said channels for pushing said groups of articles along said converging channels and drive means for moving said push element in said first direction for converging said articles together into face-to-face relationship.

16. Apparatus for collating a plurality of wafers and similar articles having two dimensions which are larger than their thickness thereby defining opposite faces on each article comprising a support frame defining a plurality of collating channels extending along said frame, said collating channels successively converging in a first direction at spaced points along said frame until all of said collating channels have converged into a main channel, a plurality of laterally adjustable in-feed channels adapted to be connected into selected ones of said collating channel's, delivery means for supplying the articles into said in-feed channels resting on edge therein, a push element extending across said frame above said channels for pushing the articles along said converging channels, drive means for moving said push element in said first direction for conveying said articles together into face-toface relationship forming a stack on edge in said main channel.

17. Apparatus for collating a plurality of wafers and similar articles having two dimensions which are much larger than their third dimension defining a pair of 0pposite faces with an edge portion extending around each article, said apparatus comprising conveying means for conveying a plurality of the articles horizontally disposed, means for turning the articles upright onto their edge portions with their faces in spaced parallel planes, means defining a plurality of converging channels having upright walls for receiving the upright confections into their spaced ends, the outermost of said channels consecutively converging with the next outermost channels until all of said channels have converged into a main channel, a horizontal pusher element spaced above said channels and extending across said channels, and drive mechanism for moving said pusher element above said channels toward the converging ends of said channels for pushing the articles along said channels while maintaining them aligned one with another to bring them into face-to-face engagement in a stack of collated articles moving edgewise along said main channel.

18. Strip-cutting apparatus for cutting strips of sheet material and then turning the resulting cards on edge comrising a rotating cutter shaft having cutting wheels adjustably secured to said shaft, transfer means for moving the strips past said cutting wheels, a plurality of laterally adjustable supports, clamp means for securing said supports in position, each of said supports having a twisted belt and associated guide means thereon following the twist of said belt, and a channel member and spring means therein for temporarily retaining the cards fed out from between said belt and guide means.

19. A method of collating into one stack a multiplicity of wafers and similar articles having two dimensions which are much larger than their third dimension defining a pair of opposite faces with an edge portion extending around each article comprising the steps of orienting said plurality of articles on edge in a plurality of channels, simultaneously advancing all of the articles edgewise along said channels and first converging and collating the articles in adjacent channels, and successively converging and collating the articles in the next successive adjacent channels with the already collated articles until all of said articles have been collated into a single stack.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 862,148 8/1907 Filteau 271- 1,991,137 2/1935 Case et al. 271-75 2,016,268 10/1935 Griffith 198-160 2,052,526 8/1936 Broadmeyer 271-45 2,066,566 1/1937 Janson et al. 83-29 2,069,716 2/1937 Beardsley et al. 198-160 2,213,123 8/1940 Guilbert 270-52 2,288,755 7/1942 Taggart 270-58 2,298,221 10/1942 McLaughlin 83-155 2,309,671 2/1943 Saul 271-45 2,554,095 5/1951 Diezel 83-407 X 2,599,666 6/1952 Surridge 156-556 X 2,624,571 l/1953 Dixon et al. 270-58 2,636,423 4/1953 Cunningham 83-256 X 2,668,591 2/1954 Winters 83-407 2,672,931 3/1954 Maher 83-155 2,795,274 6/1957 Beaulieu 83-29 2,872,185 2/1959 Kropp 270-58 2,879,991 3/1959 Printer 83-408 X 2,978,093 4/1961 Pottle 198-32 X 2,982,542 5/1961 Colwill 270-58 3,070,365 12/1962 Lohrman 270-52 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,114,206 9/ 1961 Germany.

WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

J. M. MEISTER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A METHOD FOR CUTTING AND STACKING CARDS OF RELATIVELY UNIFORM SIZE EACH CUT FROM A RELATIVELY LARGE SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT SHEET OF MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES MOVING SAID LARGE SHEET EDGEWISE IN A FIRST DIRECTION AND CUTTING SAID MOVING SHEET PARALLEL TO SAID DIRECTION TO FORM A PLURALITY OF STRIPS OF SIMILAR LENGTH AND WIDTH, MOVING SAID STRIPS INDIVIDUALLY EDGEWISE PERPENDICULAR TO THEIR LENGTH AND CUTTING SAID MOVING STRIPS TRANSVERSELY INTO A PLURALITY OF CARDS ALL IN A FIRST PLANE, MOVING SAID CARDS EDGEWISE WHIEL PROGRESSIVELY TURNING THEM INTO SPACED PARALLEL PLANES PERPENDICULAR TO SAID FIRST PLANE, AND MOVING THE CARDS SIMULTANEOUSLY EDGEWISE WHILE PROGRESSIVELY CONVERGING THE CARDS INTO A STACK. 